Supporting the programmer of a rule based language
Stephen F. Fickas · Expert Systems · 1987
Abstract: In this paper we take up the plight of the programmer of a rule based language. Our focus is on the type of development environment that is most supportive of such programmers. Our view will be that programming is programming, whether it be with a rule based, functional or imperative language. While it is true that rule based languages have strong links to the Expert Systems field, our discussion in this paper has less to do with ‘expert systems’ per se 1 , and more to do with the view of rule based languages as yet another computational paradigm, often included under the same roof with non‐rule‐based languages. Just as programming environment research has progressed for non‐rule‐based languages, we would like to build more powerful environments in the rule based world as well. We report here on an attempt to build such an environment. 2